Operating mechanism



Oct. 31, 1944. c. E. BAZLEY 2,361,810

OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 13, 1943 Inventor:

Carl E. Bazles.

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His.Attor-neg.

Patented Oct. 31 1944 OPERATING MECHANISM 'oariiri. Bazley, Schenectady, N. -Y., assignor to General ElectricCompa'ny, a"corpo'ration of New York 1 Application September 13, 1943, Serial No. 502,118

4 Claims. (01. 74-110) My invention relates to operating mechanism, more particularly to an operating linkagebetween an electromagnet and a memberoperated by the magnet, and it has for its object a simple and reliable operating mechanism giving automatically different driving ratios between the driving and driven members. 1 I i In carrying out my invention in one form I provide a mechanical linkage between the driving and driven members comprising two toggles of differentlengths having their knee pivots connected, respectively, to the driving and drivenmembers, and their outer ends pivotally connected together, with guide means for the outer ends for constraining their movement to transverse and longitudinal directions in such manner thatduring one portion of the range of movement of the. members the outer ends move transversely with .respect to the directionof movement thereby to introduce a .high drivingratioj between the two members, and during another portion of the range of movement the outer ends move in the direction of movement thereby to provide a 1:1 driving ratio.

.For a more complete understanding of my in-, vention reference should. be had tothe accompanying drawing, Fig.1 of which is an elevation view of an electromagnet equipped with operating mechanism embodying my invention showing the position of the parts with the magnet deenergized;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of Fig. 1 partly in section, while Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the magnet and other parts in their energized position.

Referring to the drawing,I have shown my in? l vention in one form as applied to two members having rectilinear movement in a common path, the driving member being the plunger armature 10 of an electromagnet having an operating coil II and a magnet frame 12, and the driven member being a metal part or strap 13., The plunger armature I is constrained to movev by suitable guides (not shown) in the magnet frame l2 in a rectilinear path which is coincident with the guide slot 14 for the driven member 13, this slot being provided in a plate I 5 secured by screws 1 6 and 11 to a metal supporting structure .or'base 18 for the magnet and. other parts. A second plate 19 is provided having substantially the same overall shape as the plate IS, the two plates being spaced apart by spacing members, only one of which l9a. is shown, and secured by the screws l6 and I1 to the base I8. This second plate I 9 is provided with a second guide slot 19b (Fig. 3) which is parallel with the slot I4.

The driving connection or linkage between the members 10 and I3 comprises two toggles, a longer upper or outer toggle comprising the links 20 and 2| having equal lengths, and a shorter inner or lower toggle comprising the links 22 and 23 having equal lengths. The knee or floating pivot 24 of the longer toggle extends through the guide slots I4 and l9b and is connected rigidly to the driven member l3 at a, point above a guide projection 24a on the member 13 moving in theslot 19b, while the pivot 25 of the shorter toggle is connected to the armature 10. The outer ends of the two toggles are pivotally connected to each other by means of pivots 26 and 21, the shorter toggle being arranged in reentrant relation with the longer toggle. Ahelical tension spring 21a connected to a pin 21b on the plate 15 and to the pivot 25 pulls the pivot 25 upward normally to: the unattracted position shown" in Figs. 1 and 2 when the coil 1 l is deenergized.

For the purpose of guiding and restraining the movement of the pivots 26 and 21, transverse guides for these pivots are provided, the pivot 26 being provided with an upper guide 26 consisting oii a wall of the plate 15 and. a lower guide 29 consisting of the upper surface of the magnet frame 12. Similar guides 30 and 3| are provided for the pivot 21. These guides 29 to 3| inclusive extend substantially at right angles with the direction of movement of the armature. Thus when the. magnet is energized, as seen in Fig. 3, and the armature I0 is in its lowermost position, the pivots 26 and 21 lie, respectively, between their pairs of guides 28, 29 and 30, 3| although actually engaging the upper guides 28 and 30, the shorter toggle then being substantially straight. Additional guides 32 and 33 on the plate 15 are provided for the pivots 26 and 21, these guides being parallel with the direction of movement of the armature. It will bev seen that the guides 28, 32, 30 and 33 are formed as inner edges of the member 15 which is cut away at the lower end of the slot 14, as indicated by the edge walls 34 and. 35, to provide space for the upper end of the armature when in its raised or unattracted position.

prevent separation of the pivots 26 and 21 and cause the pivots to move in paths which are parallel with the movement of the armature, and consequently hold the toggle links in the relative positions shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, during this initial portion of the armature movement the driven member I3 is moved in a 1:1 driving ratio with the movement of the armature.

When the pivots 26 and 2'! move off the lower ends of the guides 32 and 33, they move laterally away from each other with respect to the movement of the armature between their respective pairs of guides 28, 29, and 30, 3|. This provides a high ratio driving connection by reason of the much smaller angle between the links 20 and 2|. Also, this driving ratio increases as the armature nears its attracted position shown in Fig. 3.

' Thus, because of the greater angle between the links 22 and 23, a predetermined downward movement of the pivot 25 causes a smaller downward movement of the pivot 24. This is because the downward movement of the pivots 24 and 25 is measured in terms of the separation of the pivots 26 and 2! and a much greater movement is required of the pivot 25 to produce a predetermined change in distance between the pivots 26 and 21 as compared with the movement required of the pivot 24. Y

Moreover, this driving ratiov increases as the pivot 25 moves downward because of the fact that it is approaching more rapidly than the pivot 24 a position exactly midway between the pivots 26 and 21.

When the coil I l is-deenergized, the spring 21a moves the armature l upward to the unattracted position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. During this upward movement of the armature, the reverse change in the driving ratios takes place, the pivot 24 being at first moved at a low ratio with respect to pivot 25 and then moving in a direct 1:1 ratio when the pivots 2B and 21 reach the guides 32 and 33.

As to details of construction, the slot 1% in the member I9 extends throughout the entire range of movement of the two pivots 24 and 25 and is parallel with the slot 14. The pins 24 and 25 extend through both slots, the pin 25 being provided with guide members 38 and 39 on opposite sides of the plate l9. Also, the links 20 and 23 are arranged in front of the plate 15, as seen in Fig.1, while the links 2| and 22 are arranged behind the plate l with the wall of the member between the ends of the links and engaged by the pivots. A suitable spacing member 40 is provided on the pivot 24.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be understood, of course, that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and I therefore contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Operating mechanism between driving and driven members comprising two pairs of toggle links having their outer ends pivotally connected together and their middle pivots connected, respectively, to driving and driven members, one pair of said links being longer than the other pair, and guide means for constraining the movements of the outer pivoted ends of said pairs of links to predetermined transverse paths extending at right angles with the direction of movement of the driving and driven members over at links having their outer ends pivotally connected together and their middle floating pivots connected, respectively, to said driving and driven members, one pair of said links being longer than the other pair, and guide means for constraining the movements of the outer pivoted ends of said pairs of links to predetermined respectively transverse and longitudinal paths during the range of movement of the driving member thereby to provide difierent driving ratios between said members.

3. Operating mechanism comprising a coil, a plunger armature for said coil, a movable member mounted for rectilinear movement in a path parallel with the movement of said armature, a first pair of links each having an inner end pivotally connected to said armature and extending in opposite directions from said armature, a second pair of links each having an inner end pivotally connected to said movable member and an outer end pivotally connected to an outer end of one of said first links, and means for constraining the movements of the outer pivoted ends of said links to predetermined paths extending transversely with the movement of the armature, one pair of said links being longer than the other pair and the shorter pair being reentrant with respect to the longer pair, whereby movement of said armature changes the angular relation of the links of each pair with respect to each other and thereby moves said movable member in a predetermined speed ratio with respect to said armature.

4. A variable speed driving connection comprising two pairs of toggle links, one of said pairs being longer than the other and the shorter pair being reentrant with respect to the longer pair, a floating. pivot connecting together the inner ends of each of said pairs of links, pivotal connections between the corresponding outer ends of said toggles, means for connecting the inner floating pivots of said toggles respectively to driving and driven members fOr movement in a direction substantially coincident with a line passing through said floating pivots whereby movement of the driving member effects movement of said toggles together, a pair of guides on opposite sides of said direction of movement for holding said outer pivots against separation for a, 1:1 drivin ratio during a portion of the movement of the driving member, and guides for said outer pivots during another portion of the movement of the driving member extending substantially at right angles with said direction of movement to provide for separation of said outer pivots whereby a varying driving ratio is introduced between the driving and driven members.

I CARL E. BAZLEY. 

